A Cottage by the Sea - On My Mind

Grateful for solitude

1/23/2021

Much has happened since I last wrote six days ago. To keep with New Years terms, the old has gone, the new has been ushered in. We have a new president sleeping in the White House. In my immediate life, two church members have died. Both lived long lives worth celebrating and passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family members.
The comings and goings of life, the beginnings and endings, the births and deaths! Sometimes literal, other times symbolic; sometimes joyful, other times sorrowful; always nuanced for us as we pick ourselves up and move forward.
I am grateful that I have solitude to work with all these changes—grateful for the physical time and for the peace that I feel when I am alone.

January 17th resolutions

1/17/2021

How often do we say that we want a quiet day, a day of solitude, a simple day, and then it doesn’t happen? Although everyone can carve out a little time for that, I am writing from the perspective of a retire person who does have time. So my remarks, as always, come from that perspective. Every so often I feel the need to reiterate that.
We are seventeen days past the New Year, but I feel like today is a new beginning for me. Maybe it’s in anticipation of a new administration in Washington, with a leader who talks of hope, love, and possibilities. Clearly his disposition is close to mine.
While Biden is busy, with, let’s face it, no time for silence, solitude, or simplicity, I am resolving to offer my personal balance to that.

To listen more than talk.
To spend more time in meditation and contemplation.
To live simply.

Riding away from an addiction

1/14/2021

Ginger Cook

Every so often I find myself needing to get off the wagon, that is filled too much TV political watching, and return to the mission of this blog: for those who are looking for silence, solitude, and simplicity, and who sometimes like to be alone. “It’s not the worst addiction in the world,” I might tell myself, but I know that is a miserable excuse for overdoing anything.
Google gives me this definition: An addiction is an urge to do something that is hard to control or stop. The challenge is in knowing that we are participating in something that is hard to control or stop. We go along until something happens that makes us stop and ask ourselves (always in a disparaging tone), “What are you doing?” The very asking of that questions that lets us know that what we are doing is not right, that we need to get on the wagon and be driven to safety.
I don’t mean to convey that I am that desperate about my current addition, but when I turn off the TV I step into the silence, solitude, and simplicity I am looking for. And, even someone else is in the room, I feel like I am alone.

January 6th assault on Democracy

1/7/2021

A temperamentally angry man may be more inclined to anger than another. But as long as he remains sane he is still free not to be angry. His inclination to anger is simple a force in his character which can be turned to good or evil, according to his desires. If he desires what is evil, his temper will become a weapon of evil against other men and even against his own soul. If he desires what is good, his temper can become the controlled instrument for fighting the evil that is in himself and thus helping other men to overcome the obstacles which they meet in the world. He remains free to desire either good or evil. Thomas Merton

Switching to PAGES

1/2/2021

A new year, a new post, a new try at this new computer program that I have to adapt to!!! It seems that the current Microsoft Word program that I had to purchase when I got this new computer, doesn’t have the NoteBook format that I loved using for years. Whenever I begin a new file, NoteBook disappears as an option. Vanished; gone!
My complaint may be an age thing—my age, that is. I’ve been word processing for a mighty long time (I had an Apple C). I kind of understand that things have to change; I’m talking about marketing. I know that if companies stayed with a good thing, there would be nothing to sell! Madison Avenue doesn’t mean a thing any more (you have to have been around for a long time just to know what I’m referring to).
Okay, enough of that. I’m going to keep a sharp eye out for the bill to renew (pay for) the Microsoft Word program. I have to be alert so I can click ‘No thank you,” and not be charged for another year.
While I wait I’m going to give Pages, the word processing program that comes free with Macs, a try. When I bought this computer last summer, my son-in-law, who knows a great deal about computers, told me to forget Word and go with Pages. But I wasn’t ready to give up what I was used to, what was part of my computer DNA. Finally, I’m listening.

(I’m writing this on Pages and love how easy it is save on my desktop. I’m not certain that it has the NoteBook features, but the other features seem more accessible.)

Today is my birthday

12/30/2020

Today is my birthday. Last year I celebrated with family and a few friends at the Wayside Inn. Today I am celebrating at home with my husband. I cherish last year in a special way because a month later Covid was upon us. What a difference a year makes!
Today I feel immensely satisfied. It helps that all my birthdays have been joyful. It helps that I had loving parents who wanted me. It helps that my family is healthy, safe and coping well during these pandemic times. It helps that I have food on the table and a warm house to sleep in.
Today I am glad that my birthday celebration will be simple—simply one of gratitude. I don’t want anything; I don’t need anything. In fact, gifts, chattels, more ‘stuff’, detracts from the gratitude. I have more than enough while some have so little, and too many have nothing.

Deepening during Covid

12/26/2020

As the year comes to a close, I find myself considering the benefits of this Covid year for me. It is all about deepening, and for that I am very grateful.
• Deepening silence, solitude, and simplicity times.
• Deepening friendships.
• Deepening faith.
• Deepening gratitude.
• Deepening awareness that it’s all about love.

It's the car, Stupid!

12/16/2020

During these Covid times, we solitudes are being asked to live into what we proclaim—that we love silence, solitude, and simplicity and sometimes like to be alone.  I, for one, love the solitude I’ve been forced to experience recently. It doesn’t escape my notice, however, that having a car makes this easy to embrace because it offers me choice. I have the excuse to hop in the car and, with mask on, whip into the store for a quart of milk.
    I have a widowed friend who makes it her practice to get out every day, sometimes for a walk, but usually out in the car. Another friend, who also lives alone, doesn’t have a car. She can walk into town, but is at the mercy of family, who are self-isolating, to leave her groceries on the back porch. No car choice!
     It’s the car, Stupid!  Remember that phrase? * The  original word was ‘economy’ but we can substitute our own. When we have easy access to a car, we can love our solitude, because, and this is a big because, we have the choice to get away from it for a while.

*Coined by James Carville

Weekly routine during Covid times

12/8/2020

My mom's weekly calendar.

During these Covid times, how do we solitude-seeking-folks  organize our weeks?  I’ve always liked a rhythm, which of course has changed over the years. When I was teaching, the weekly routine was easy; into the classroom I’d go every day--being sick was never worth it, as every teacher knows. Weekends were spent with family and preparing for the next week in the classroom.
    After I retired I developed other busy, weekly routines. Now with Covid, my days have embraced a comfortable rhythm of silence, solitude, and simplicity, which I’m hoping won’t change after we all get vaccinated and are out and about again. In fact, at my age, I don’t want to be out and about very much, although I’d jump at the chance to go to a restaurant or visit a museum with a friend.

At the moment, here’s my simple weekly routine.

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, at home with no regular social plans. I try to keep the days free for me to choose everything I do.
Tuesday, lunch at a friend’s house (we have created a tiny bubble); volunteer at a food pantry, providing groceries to seniors; and then grocery shopping on my way home.

Friday, a day with friends; chatting with my sister and others, Zooming with teachers and others; walking with friends.

Saturday, a day at home with my husband
Sunday, a church day. As best I can, I treat it as a Sabbath Day. Sometimes a chat with a friend.

That‘s the week; a simple routine, with plenty of times for silence and solitude.

Todays' solitary walk

12/3/2020

Solitude works best for me during these Covid times if I can get out for a walk. If there comes a time when my knee, or some other impairment gets in my way, I’ll have to make serious psychological adjustments. But for now, nothing is in my way, including the weather. When the snow comes and the walkway is icy and treacherous, I can drive up the to Our Lady of Fatima parking lot and walk on the back roads.
Today, however, here I am with a clear sky above me.